Day 5: Making Good Progress

I read at http://boulderoem.com/emergency-status
that there is going to be a lot of back burning to increase the strength of the fire line.  I assume that is what the smoke is all about.

Day 4: The Great Smokies

It is quite smokey today.   I doubt the smoke is from the flagstaff fire since there is a steady breaze from the west.

Still, it makes it hard to see anything at all up here at 8300 feet and 4 miles west of  the flagstaff fire.

Day 3: Rain is Good

There have been a number of thunder showers over the last day.  Although the associated lightning can spark new fires, it looks like all that has been happening is that the rain is helping to put out the flagstaff fire.

I took this picture about 4 pm.  There was just one small plume of smoke coming off the peak.

9news just came up here

I showed 9news a good place to get some footage of the fire from here.  Maybe I'll even make it into the news myself since they interviewed me about the flagstaff fire.

Map of the Flagstaff Fire

Here's something I've been looking for - a detailed terrain map of the location of the fire

http://yfrog.com/z/j2q3vjhj

Cool Time Lapse of the Boulder Flagstaff Fire

I shot this time lapse of the western side of the fire yesterday (Day 1).  I'm about 4 miles west of the fire, and alas, don't have the right telephoto lense for a better close up.  However the swirling smoke and clouds are fun to watch.  See the video here:
http://youtu.be/UugZKZ8AYN4

Another longer time lapse as seen from Boulder is at
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-807894

Day 2 Morning Update of Boulder Flagstaff Fire

9 am.

The fire does not look like much from the west this morning.  However, there is a live video feed of it at:
http://www.9news.com/video/player_live_2.aspx

Another live stream (not as close up) is at

http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_20948526/boulder-flagstaff-fire-live-webcam-view-above-ncar

I find this map quite useful.   I'm reporting from a orange square just off the left edge of the map.

http://www.timescall.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=4487507
Also, here's a number I'll be keeping handy:

Emergency Operations Center has activated a call center for residents and others impacted by the fire to obtain information. The phone number is 303-413-7730. People seeking fire and evacuation information are encouraged to call this number. 

Rainbow Over Boulder Flagstaff Fire

A rain storm came through about 7 PM. At a bit after 8 pm, I noticed a faint rainbow hanging to the left over the burnt mountain side

The rain seems to have helped put the fire out.  I did not see any more crown fires!

Slurry Bomber Releases Load

6:30 PM Here is a slurry bomber releasing it's load over the Boulder flagstaff fire.  This picture is on the western flank of South Boulder Peak.

Boulder Flagstaff Fire

6:03 PM View of the #flagstaff (that's the twitter hashtag) fire. It looks more contained from this side relative to an hour ago.  A thunderstorm passed overhead about 2:30 here.  Rumor has it that it was lightning from this thunderstorm that started the fire.

The black smudge above the mountain at the right is an air tanker. 

Here is a page with more useful links about the boulder flagstaff fire:
http://www.fricklas.com/boulderfirelinks/

Cool Time lapse

There is a saying here in Colorado, "If you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes." That certainly was true on this day. Clouds are swirling around every which way. At one point, you have one layer of clouds heading west, while a higher layer of clouds is heading its. This short time laps captures it all for May 13, 2012 near Pinecliff, Co

Check it out at http://youtu.be/8tLg1RGjGac

Tick, Tick, Tick

It's been the driest March on record. It has also been quite warm the last couple of weeks, and the ticks have noticed.

I first saw a one tick about a week ago, and on April fool's day I saw two more on me. (That's no April Fool's Joke either.)

Also, for the first time EVER, I've been able to get a respectable tan in March up here in the mountains. Hmmmm... Global Warming anybody?

Today, it's returned to a more seasonable weather, with just a touch of snow. We can certainly use the moisture!

The spring melt is here

This past winter has been unusual in that I've had more days then ever before where I could x-c ski in my own yard. But this all came to an end about a week ago. We've had a sold stretch of warm melting weather and much of the snow is now gone, and the ice columns stretching from the roof to the ground have come crashing down.

I've even discovered two missing newspapers at the bottom of the driveway. The first was from February 3. And then... as the snow receded even further, I found a paper from December 1. These papers are presumably from the days when the heavy snows that formed the base for my ski-able yard came from.

Moose on the loose.

There's been a moose in the neighborhood of Nederland in the last few weeks. I saw it crossing a meadow below Barker Resevour.

... and a neighbor took this picture earlier today.

Bungling Bear Burgler Returns

It looks like the bear come back.

I now have the door by the kitchen closed because of the damage he caused to the storm door last time. The replacement security door has not been installed yet.

This time the bear pushed in a window screen before realizing that the hole was to small and high for him to get into the kitchen that way.

He then pushed in a second screen. However this knocked over a box of mason jars and lids. The resulting racket scared the bear and woke me up.

A Bungling Bear Burgler pays a Visit

I woke up at two am to the sound of a rustling paper bag. I figured I had better see what the cat had gotten into.

I grabbed a flashlight and headed for the kitchen.

Something was not right...

As I looked around, I realized that the rustling sound was actually the sound of crunching aluminum. The screen "storm" door had the kick panel pushed in and a metal grill was lying on the floor. There were gashes in the window screen material.

I heard heavy footsteps recede across the deck and lawn.

I shirted around the trashed open storm door and onto the deck. A long trail of saliva started by the screen door and ran 12 feet to the steps at the edge of the deck.

Only a bear could have done that, but fortunately, he was more afraid of me then I was of him in my sleepy state.

It's a good thing I got there when I did because it would not have been pretty had the bear gotten inside and had a taste of food.

The next day, I asked about a bear proof storm door at Home Depot. I got some funny looks, and it seems they don't carry such a thing... Odd. But they do have some sturdy looking storm doors for about $100.

Mysterious Sounds in the Woods

Yesterday, while working in the garden, I heard what sounded like horse snorts coming from the nearby woods.

After this went on for about half an hour, I went to investigate.

What I saw surprised me.

There, in between the trees where two huge bull elk! There racks were quite impressive. I beat a hasty retreat, mostly because did not want to disturb these large but shy creatures.

Summer Solstice Snow

Here it is a day before the summer solstice. Last night it snowed on Thorodin. But at the slightly lower elevation here we only got about 2 inches of rain. I'm looking forward to the wild flower explosion in a few days.

In other news, there were two bear sightings on the north side of Winiger Ridge yesterday.

Summer Solstice Snow

Here it is a day before the summer solstice. Last night it snowed on Thorodin. But at the slightly lower elevation ehre we only got about 2 inches of rain.

In other news, there were two bear sightings on the north side of Winiger Ridge yesterday.

Yesterday, it Got so Cold the Hell Froze Over...

In fact it got down to -25 Fahrenheit. From what I understand this is not enough to kill the pine beetles that are destroying the forest.

In other news, my cat wanted to go for a walk today,despite the fresh snow. You can watch a video of Cloe the cat walking through the woods in the fresh snow below.



Also, a few days ago, I caught a heard of about 50 elk at the side of the road. If you listen carefully, you can even hear the males buggling.